


They All Didn’t Fail Sophie or Lock the Damn Door—The Parker Had to Watch Job

by crayonbreakygal



Series: Lock the Damn Door [5]
Category: Falling Skies, Leverage
Genre: Angst, Badass, Drama, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 16:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8108764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: Parker didn’t mean to watch.  Her brain was on overdrive, trying to find a place to hide, where they wouldn’t find her.  It was all her fault, all her fault.  Sophie was gone.  It was all her fault. Takes place after season four, parallel with Falling Skies.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Now this chapter has almost no smut, but does keep talking about the changing dynamics of the team. I wanted to finally pull in a little of what was going on in Falling Skies. I wish I had seen the episodes more times though. I feel like I'm not lining things up the way it should be. Oh well. Lots of swearing in this one though. Everyone is badass! Enjoy!

They All Didn’t Fail Sophie or Lock the Damn Door—The Parker Had to Watch Job

Takes place after season four, parallel to the Falling Skies universe

Parker didn’t mean to watch.  Her brain was on overdrive, trying to find a place to hide, where they wouldn’t find her.  It was all her fault, all her fault.  Sophie was gone.  It was all her fault.

“We’ll get her back,” Eliot chanted, standing in front of Nate.

Nate collapsed to the floor, holding his head in his hands.

“It’s only been hours, not days.  They gotta be holding her nearby.”

“I failed her.”

“You didn’t fail her, Nate.  I did.”

Parker wanted to shout that she did, but didn’t want to disturb what was happening between the two men.  They were ready to go, ready to flee to South Carolina.  One last stop and that was it.  She and Sophie had been joking around, packing things.  Eliot had asked them to come along, to be able to get the last of the supplies.  It was a simple mission.  One that went entirely wrong from the start. 

“Parker was closer.  You had to.”

“Dammit, I never, ever leave a man.”

Nate leaned back, face in turmoil.  His eyes were rimmed red, like he’d been crying.  Parker had been, had been screaming at Eliot to go back, but he didn’t.  They needed more firepower, needed more bodies to fight back.  The two of them couldn’t, not with what they had on them.  The mech weapon was their only choice.  And it was back at the cabin. They had thought their way was clear.  They were so very wrong.

“I’m not blaming you.”

“But I am.  I’m blaming myself and I swear that I will get her back. She means too much, too damn much.”

At those last words, Eliot choked up.  Please, please don’t cry, Parker thought.  It hurt enough to see the anguish on Nate’s face.  If Eliot crumbled, she would definitely lose it.

“You gotta pull yourself together, Nate. I need you. I need you to be at your most vicious.  This is gonna take that attitude.”

“Oh, I can be vicious.”

“Can you be?  You’ve seen what they do to women, fertile women.”

“I’m not going to let them have her.”

“What the fuck are you going to do though, if it happens?”

“If it comes down to that, I’ll do it myself.”

“You don’t have the fuckin’ balls to do it.”

Nate shoved Eliot back onto the wall, pinning Eliot there with his arm.

No, Parker wanted to shout.  No one was going to hurt her, even if she was infected by those alien things. She’d kill them all to save her, all of them.

“Then you don’t know me that well, now do you,” Nate hissed back.

“Hardison is going to figure this out.”

“And what if he doesn’t?”

“Then we go down, all of us, with her if necessary.”

“You’d ask that, of them?”

“You think they’d need to be asked?”

Eliot took Nate’s hand in his, squeezing hard.

“You in?  You gonna be able to do this, one hundred percent?”

“You just do as much damage as you can.  Let me worry about Sophie.”

“Then let’s gear up.”

Nate stood now, weaving a bit as he did.

“Steady now.”

Nate swung out, not much power behind the punch.

“Leave me the fuck alone.”

Taking Nate’s head in his strong hands, Eliot leaned into him, forehead to forehead.

“I will not leave you alone.  This is for Sophie.  I love her too.  Know that.”

“I know.  I do.  I haven’t gotten to tell her.”

Eliot raised his head, still gripping Nate’s with his hands, not letting him move away.

“If you don’t,” Eliot started.  “Then I will.”

“She’s mine.”

“Then fuckin’ make her yours.  Quit fucking around and say it.”

Parker’s intake of breath said it all.  He hadn’t said those words to either her or Hardison. What did that mean?  Hardison had told her that he loved her.  Was Eliot attempting to shield his feelings, or did he love Sophie more, or possibly Nate more?  Love was such a strange concept to her, she didn’t understand the nuisances sometimes. 

The kiss was unexpected too, as Eliot raised his head and placed a gentle one on Nate’s lips.  He jerked back from the hitter, touching where Eliot had made his move.

“Eliot, I don’t, I mean.  Dammit.”

“I know.  I just wanted, I just wanted you to know. Before, you know.  If we don’t make it.  I don’t know what I want.  Hardison and Parker are my world now. And I can’t lose either one of you.”

“Yeah, I know.  I just don’t think I can return those feelings.  Dammit.”

“Words aren’t needed right now.  Let’s just get Sophie back.  Then we can figure this shit out.  And fuckin’ tell her that you love her. You owe her that.”

“I do.”

Parker was so glad that Nate had calmed down.  A calm, furious Nate was much more dangerous than a pissed off, fly off the handle Nate.  If he was thinking clearly, then he was more dangerous than any of them.  And the fact that now he knew how to operate the weapons they had acquired kind of made Parker fearful of him, for him.

She thought that maybe they’d start making plans, but the two of them just stood there, eyeing each other like they were trying to solve this all in one moment.  Their relationship had always been strained, with Eliot questioning almost everything Nate did, especially after the Maltese Falcon incident.  Then the fact that now Nate questioned Eliot because of Moreau.  Dangerous combination.  Did they trust each other? Because they would need to, definitely if Sophie had been compromised.  Parker would see to it though that neither one of them would hurt her. They’d figure out a way to bring her back if they needed to.  She just wished it had been her they’d taken.  Then she could have figured out a way out of there. Talking her way out was Sophie’s strong suit.  Slipping out was Parker’s.

Nate scratched his now greying beard, sighing as he did.  It was like he was trying to decide what to do, thinking too much as always.  The next action was indeed unexpected, but with the emotions running through those two heads, she thought that damn, it was about time.  Nate yanked Eliot’s hair, smashing his lips up against the hitter’s forcefully. It wasn’t gentle at all.  It only lasted a few seconds, but in those few seconds, Parker thought that Nate got his point across. Whatever that point was, they’d have to figure it out later.

Stumbling out so that they wouldn’t catch her eavesdropping, she huddled in a corner when she saw Nate stride out of the storeroom.

“Let’s go.  Every single weapon we have. Now,” he demanded. “Hardison?  Any progress?”

“According to the map, we know that they have the base approximately fifty miles from here.  I say we start there first.  We know they skedaddled from here quickly.  Let’s hope that’s where they went.  Otherwise, I got nothing. From the tracker, that’s where they were headed.”

“Fuckin’ skitters are going down.”

 

The four of them piled into the truck, all of them loaded with every weapon, from knives to guns to the one mech cannon that Hardison had finally gotten to work.  Parker just hoped that they could sneak in and retrieve Sophie and not make a sound.  She had not suggested that at all because by the looks on both Nate’s and Eliot’s faces, it might not go over very well.   Hardison was driving, while she was in the middle of Nate and Eliot. The tension that radiated off of them was palatable. 

God, she had to calm them down.  If they both went in there guns a blazin’ then it would all go to shit.  She needed their heads in this game if they were going to win.  They were hers.  And they’d get Sophie back in one piece.

“Both of you need to listen to me.”

“Parker,” Eliot warned.  “Whatever you gotta say, I’m not in the mood.”

“This is not under negotiation.  Both of you need to listen,” she shouted, seeing out of the corner of her eye that Hardison flinched.

“What do you have to say?” Nate asked.

“I know that you blame me.”

“No.”

“No one does.”

“Parker, what?”

“Just listen. Stop talking.  You will, under no circumstances, hurt Sophie.  I don’t care if she’s one of those things now, we will fix her. Got it? I love her too, dammit.  We’ll fix her.”

“What if we can’t, mama? Then what?”

“Then I’ll do it myself. I will not have any of you take that on.”

“No, Parker. It’s my responsibility.”

“No, Nate.  That’s where you’re wrong.  You love her, too much.  Eliot, he can’t even see straight right now.  Hardison doesn’t have the heart, can’t hurt a flea, no offense Alec.  It’s up to me.”

“You’re not going to give up on her?” Nate queried her.

“Never.  And I know you’re not too.  We’re a family, to the end.”

Nate’s kiss to her cheek brought her up short, almost made her cry, but she knew he appreciated that she was with him, one hundred percent.  Eliot grabbed her hand now, squeezing it.  Nate did the same.

“We gonna fuck some shit up.  I do have those charges, if needed.”

“Might need them, Hardison.  We might just finally get some use out of them.”

“Let’s blow some shit up, rescue the girl and fuck them up the ass.”

All three of them stared at Parker.

“Alec, eyes on the road,” Parker admonished him.

“Yeah, my badass girlfriend.  Hell, I bet Eliot never thought he’d have a badass girlfriend.”

“Never did before.”

“Nate, that beard is scratchy.” As always, Parker decided to try and focus on something else. “Must bug Sophie.”

“She hasn’t complained.”

“Ha. Little do you know.  I like Eliot’s.”

“What about mine?” Hardison chimed in.

“What beard?  You couldn’t grow one if …”

Eliot had stopped.  Parker knew the saying. If his life depended on it was it.

“Luckily my life does not depend on whether I can grow a damn beard.  You two, on the other hand, are always lucky. Let’s be damn sure we’re lucky today.”

“I like it though,” Parker said as she leaned over to place a quick kiss on Nate’s cheek. “Still scratchy.”

 

After scoping out the base, Eliot had a plan of attack.  It didn’t take long for them to find Sophie because they had corralled all their prisoners into one pen.  There were so many of them.  This was going to be more than just a retrieval. It was going to be a massive jailbreak.  There must have been at least a hundred poor souls.

Nate spotted her right off the bat. 

“She’s planning something.”

“How do you know?” Eliot asked as they surveyed the situation.

“I know Sophie.  I can tell by the way she’s standing, moving around all the people.  See, watch what some of the others are doing.  Damn, we have to get down there now.”

Parker could see her movements, what everyone else was doing. Nate was right.  She’d get herself killed without backup.

“Nate, stop. I’ve got movement on the other side, up the hill to the south.  There’s another rescue party.  Let’s just hope we can help out.”

Thank goodness for Eliot’s eyes or they wouldn’t have spotted the other group. 

“Damn, they’re good,” Parker told Eliot.  “I didn’t even spot them.  Any way to contact them?”

“Not if I want to live,” Eliot announced, putting his hands into the air.

“Wanna tell me where you got that tech?” the man behind Eliot whispered.

“Stolen, you idiot. We’re here to help.”

“Unless you’re here to bust these people out, then get the hell out.”

Parker could see the man, long hair, trigger happy, standing directly behind Eliot. Eliot seethed, because getting the jump on him pissed him off immensely.

“One of ours is down there.  Dark-haired woman.  There,” Nate pointed out.  “We’ll help.  Just let us help.”

“Fuckin’ A.  Amateurs all around.  Why don’t you say you sit this one out?”

“I’m military, Black Ops. Don’t think I don’t know how to take you down with just a finger, asshole.”

“Snuck up on you didn’t I?”

“Got your weapon. Didn’t I?”

He was distracted trying to one-up Eliot. Now she had control, hopefully, of the situation.

“How’d you do that?”

“I’m a thief.”

“Lordy me, aren’t you a looker?”

Hardison crept closer to her.  Nate pulled himself closer to her also.

“Just get out of our way,” Nate snarled.

“I got ten men set up and ready to go.  You don’t let me leave, they’ll think you’re sympathizers.”

“Sympathizers?  What the fuck would anyone want to help those things?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised.”

“I’ll give you your weapon back on one condition?”

“What’s that, pretty boy?”

Eliot hissed into his ear. “Call me that one more time and we’re gonna have words once this is over.”

Nate could see off in the distance someone signaling the man that they’d caught.

“Oh, words.”

“Or we could just dispose of you right now.  They’ll never find the body.”

Parker used her creepy voice, the one where Eliot always said that something wasn’t right in her head.  Now he just grinned her way.

“Fucking Christ, alright.  If bossman sees this, my head could roll. Although at this point, I really don’t care.”

Eliot let him go finally, sans weapon. Parker just shivered a little.

“Man, that guy stank.”

“Yeah, well, nothin’ we can do right now except follow their lead.  Hardison, ready with that fancy weapon of yours?”

“Got it ready and willing.  Just point me to the bad guys.”

One of the mechs appeared from a ridge. Luckily it looked to be the only one. As it approached, it sure did look like it was going to open fire on the group.  Was Sophie taunting it?

“What the hell is she doing?” Nate barked.

“Stalling.”

Eliot eyed the rest of the man’s group coming up behind the mech. 

“Should I try and take the thing down from here, Eliot?”

“Just wait. Dammit, Sophie.”

“She’s standing right in the front of the group.”

Instead of waiting for the signal, Nate took off down the slope, luckily keeping his footing because they didn’t need the damn thing turning their way at this point.  Parker decided it was best to follow him to keep him out of trouble. 

Eliot told Hardison to stay close and traveled behind her.  This could get them killed, but having Nate’s back was better.

“I’m going to kill him if we get out of this alive,” Eliot growled under his breath.

“No, wait. I see what he’s doing.  If the mech sees us, then the other party can do what they need to do.  It’ll work,” Parker begged Eliot.

“Get ready, Hardison.  Once you blow that son of a bitch sky high, this place is gonna be crawling with skitters.”

“Got something special for them too.”

He handed both Eliot and Parker his little surprises.  Nate circled back around, holding out his hand for more of Hardison’s homemade bombs. 

“Parker, go left, twenty meters.  Eliot go right, ten meters over then stop.  It’s going to be close.  I’m going directly forward. On my signal, give it all you’ve got Hardison.  Keep your head down, got it?”

Nate’s plan was solid, Parker thought. It would give the hostages time and the attackers time.  Maybe they’d get out of there in one piece.  Creeping forward, Eliot gestured to all of them to stop at their appointed spaces.  Holding up the device, Nate threw it forward, hitting the mech square in the chest. It exploded on impact, sending the thing into a frenzy.  Hardison targeted it, blowing it up with one shot.  That’s when the shit hit the fan, as Hardison would say.  Skitters were everywhere.  There must have been at least twenty of them.

“Time to go to work,” Nate shouted, running for the pen in the middle of the clearing.

The other group that had staked out to attack was fighting full force now, conventional weapons firing to take down the ugly creatures. One had gotten too close to Parker, but she was able to smash one of the small bombs into its side before running clear, watching it explode into a million pieces.  Hardison was doing as much damage as he could, with Eliot guarding his back just in case.  It didn’t take long for the rest of the skitters to be felled by the two groups.  All the people in the pen scattered, taking cover.  Parker saw Nate off in the distance, leading Sophie by the arm, making sure she was alright. 

The long-haired man tackled her from behind, watching as a skitter leaped over them to attempt skewering Parker.  As she raised her weapon, she fired shot after shot into it, wounding it, but not killing it.

“Like this,” a kid, probably not even old enough to drive, showed her how to finish it off.

Gunfire died down as the creatures were finished off.

“Parker?” Eliot yelled.

“Ok.  I’m ok.”

The long-haired man slowly got up with her help.

“Damn, that was good.  Where’d you get the hardware?”

“As we told you, we know how to handle ourselves.”

“Apparently.  The old man your leader?”

Parker just stared at him.

“Pope. Nice to meet you, beautiful.”

Great, Parker thought. The man thought he was probably some kind of god or general or something.

“Pope, did you get them out?” Parker heard another man say off in the distance.

“Yeah.  I’m going.”

They were all well-armed too, just like Parker’s group.  A little more worn, but well-armed and somewhat trained.  Parker figured that Pope wasn’t their leader, just an asshole.

“Be on alert, Parker,” Eliot whispered as he approached her. 

Hardison joined the other two, walking slowly toward Nate and Sophie. Sophie was wildly gesturing to Nate as he held his hand close to his body.

“Nate’s injured,” Eliot said.

“Hand.”

“We don’t know who these people are.  Let’s just see if we can fade back into the forest.”

“Where ya going, pretty boy?” Pope asked as they led the people from the pen.

Before anyone could say a word, Pope had drawn another weapon from his person, aiming it directly at Eliot’s head.  Eliot had done the same, except that Hardison had his mech weapon trained on him also.  It was Sophie that surprised the rest of them.  She also had a weapon, pointing directly at Pope’s head.

“That pretty boy is mine.  I suggest that you lower your weapon.”

Oh damn, Parker cheered.  She sounded just like Annie Kroy.  She never wanted to cross that woman.

“Pope, goddammit, what did I tell you?” said the other man that had asked him to do his job.  “We are here to free these people.  We should be grateful they showed up.  No way we knew there were twenty skitters waiting.”

Nate passed Pope and walked to where it seemed like the real leader of the other group was.  They all stowed their weapons away then with a nod from Nate.

“That was impressive,” the man told Nate as he approached.  “Mind telling me how you knew this base was here? And where you got that weapon?”

God, did they look like a motley crew, Parker thought.  Hardison stood with the weapon over his shoulder, Eliot was armed to the teeth, Sophie stood with a knife in her hands in addition to a gun (where the hell did she get that).  Parker crossed her arms over her chest, looking bored at the whole thing, but taking in where everyone was positioned.  Nate looked way too relaxed, but Parker knew that he wasn’t.

“We acquired it by alternative means,” Nate started.

“We stole it.  I stole it,” Parker finished. “It’s what we do.”

“You’re criminals. Now ain’t that sweet,” Pope called out.

Nate grimaced at the man, knowing that he indeed had confessed to being a thief at one point.  Old habits die hard, Parker pointed out one time to Nate.

“You military?” the man asked Eliot.

“Was. Long time ago.”

“The rest of you?  We need more people like you.”

“I don’t like people.”

Eliot rolled his eyes at her.

“We’ll be going now,” Nate decided, taking Sophie’s arm to lead her away.

“Nate, why don’t you listen?  Just for a moment.  These people might need our help.”

Dammit, Sophie, Parker wanted to yell.  They didn’t want our help. They had jerks in their group.

“You gotta name?” the man asked, Boston accent slipping in just a bit.

Nate sighed. “Nathan Ford.  The big man is Alec Hardison.  Pretty boy is Eliot Spencer.  The thief is Parker.”

“Just Parker.”

“And the hostage is…”

“Ok, so I was captured.  I had it under control.  Didn’t you see?”

“Sophie. No.  You didn’t have it under control. Sophie Devereaux.”

“Thief.”

“Hacker.”

“Retrieval specialist.”

Pope cackled when he heard that.

“I’m not going to answer that question,” Sophie put forth.

“And you?”

“He’s the mastermind,” Parker told the group, making Nate’s eyes roll at her now. There was just too much eye rolling that day to suit her.

“Holy shit. I know you, Ford.  Fuck.  You’re Jimmy Ford’s son.  He was a fixer, in the neighborhood.  Man was a fucking asshole to the nth degree.  Probably followed in his footsteps.”

Nate rubbed his beard, trying to figure out a way to tell the man in charge what they did.

“Criminal too?” the man asked.

“Ex insurance investigator. And a thief, if you must ask.  We help people, or we did before all this went to shit.”

“Professor of history.  Tom Mason. Nice to meet you.”

Mason stuck out his hand to Nate and shook it.

“That was nice work you did there. We need to talk strategy.”

Mason looked actually glad to see them.  Parker just glared back at Pope. He blew a kiss her way.

“Fuck off,” Sophie threw back, Annie still in evidence.

“What a mouth?  Come here and show me what else you can do with it?”

Eliot started to go for the jerk, but Hardison pulled on his arm to stay him.

“Talk like that about Sophie again, and I’ll blow your fucking head off,” Nate said as he walked away, Sophie trailing after.

“Wow. Sensitive man there.”

“Oh I think he means it, Pope.”

“Spencer.”

Parker watched as three others gathered around, all quite young.  Two of them were introduced as Mason’s sons, one girl a little younger than she was, long blonde hair, carried a weapon with ease. They all seemed to be able to carry with ease now. 

Now Parker understood why Sophie wanted Eliot to teach her all about the weapons they had.  It was not only the look while in the field.  They would have to get out of some hairy situations if need be. 

“I don’t want to join with them” Parker whispered to Eliot once everything calmed down.

“I don’t think we have a choice.  Remember what I said about the 2nd Mass creating those bullets? Well, this is them.  We might even have a fighting chance here.  They’re going to Charleston, Parker.  Let’s just get the lay of the land here.  This would give us backup. We can’t keep going into situations like this without more people.  It would have been suicide.  Twenty of them. No way could we have handled twenty of them.”

“So what do we do?”

“We pack up and we ship out.”

Parker didn’t want to pack up and ship out. She wanted to go back to the cabin and burrow underneath the covers and never come out. And she wanted to pull the rest of them in with her, hugging them as tight as she did.

“You good, Eliot? I mean, you know what I mean.”

“Do you mean what in hell am I going to do about Nate?  Nothing.  He’s made his stance clear.  I made myself clear.”

“Do you love me?” she whispered in his ear.

“Oh course, darlin’.”

“How about Hardison? If he knows that you care for Nate, what do you think he’s gonna do?”

“Not find out.  I don’t want to hurt him.  I care for him too. It’s not like it all goes away.  Nate and I have an understanding.  Let’s keep it that way.”

“I am jealous.”

“I know.”

Swiping her hand through his shortened hair, he smiled back, taking her hand in his.

“Badass son of a bitches, aren’t you?” Pope said as they passed by.

Just for good measure, Parker pulled out her taser and zapped him one.  It got a huge laugh out of the blonde woman as Pope writhed on the dirty ground.  Parker smiled back.

“Oops,” Hardison called as he stepped over Pope.

“That’s gotta hurt,” one of Mason’s sons chided.

 


End file.
